


Of Blood and Pain

by Khashana



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Periods, background Jim/Spock, why isn't that a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-23
Updated: 2012-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-13 13:13:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11760624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khashana/pseuds/Khashana
Summary: Nyota has really awful cramps. Leonard comes to the rescue.





	Of Blood and Pain

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting in my drafts waiting for me to write the proposal for five years. It's high time I admitted I'm never going to do it. Sorry for the rubbish title.

Leonard didn’t fall in love with Nyota Uhura’s brain the first time he heard her translate some language he’d never even heard of. No, that didn’t happen until he saw her compose original poetry in Andorian. He didn’t fall in love with her body the first time he saw her, either. That didn’t happen until he saw her in sweats, with no makeup. And Leonard didn’t fall in love with Nyota’s soul until he saw her cry. When he tells this story, he always makes it sound like he fell in love slowly. Truth is, it happened all in one night.

Leonard saw a lot of Uhura, because she came by every month to get her birth control. Leonard found it amazing that after all these years, science still hadn’t come up with a better non-permanent, non-invasive way of not getting pregnant. He knew she was seeing Spock, so he made no comment when she came in to refill her prescription. She seemed embarrassed, so he kept it as professional as possible. When she and Spock broke up after a shouting match in the mess hall (well, shouting on her part, cold, cruel logic on his) and she still kept coming back for birth control, well, that surprised him. Maybe she bounced back quickly? Or was hoping they’d get back together? Or just liked rebound sex. It could just be that she didn’t want to get off the rhythm and have to start over when she hooked up with someone else.

Then, one fateful day, he received a call from the comm.

“Lieutenant Uhura to Sickbay.”

“McCoy here,” he answered, pressing the reply button.

“Could I come by and pick up a painkiller? And I’ll take my usual prescription while I’m at it.”

“Of course.” He got a nurse to fix her prescription, then realized something. “Lieutenant? What sort of painkiller?” He wouldn’t prescribe the same thing for a headache as he would for, say, what he figured was bothering her.

“Menstrual cramps,” she said, suddenly cold with embarrassment masked in professionalism. McCoy called in the usual pain pills the menstruating members of the ship dropped by for every so often.

“Done. You know you can just come by, though, right? You don’t need to call ahead.”

“I know,” she said, and now she sounded like she was gritting her teeth. “Just thought it’d save time. I’ll be right down.”

“That bad?” he asked, making a snap decision. “You in your room, Lieutenant?”

“Yes.”

“You stay put. I’ll be right down. No buts.” He took the meds Chapel had brought, then asked the computer for directions to Lieutenant Uhura’s quarters while finding a hypospray.

He moved at a brisk walk down the corridors, not wanting to keep the poor woman waiting. Arriving at the right room, he chimed the door. In a few seconds, it opened to reveal Nyota Uhura, wearing sweat pants and an old baggy t-shirt, with her hair down and no makeup.

“I have the pills,” said Leonard without preamble, “but this,” he indicated the hypospray, “is for immediate relief.” Her eyes opened wide.

“You don’t have to…”

“I know I don’t have to,” he interrupted. “This one’s an intramuscular, so if I may?”

She lifted her shirt wordlessly, and he injected half the hypo a few inches below her belly button. A second passed, and then she gasped and started to cry.

“Lieutenant?” asked Leonard in consternation. She waved him away, still sobbing.

“It’s nothing…just…I’d been resigned to another hour of that pain until the meds kicked in…thank you, Doctor.”

“Leonard,” he corrected her. “Come sit down.” He led her back to a sort of nest on her sofa, equipped with a heating pad, blanket, and glass of water, and helped her sit down in it, sitting next to her and rubbing her back soothingly until she had control again. He handed her the pain pills and the glass of water. 

“Take them now, so they’ll have kicked in by the time it wears off.” She did, then looked away, her cheeks coloring under her dark skin.

“Excuse the hormones. They’re awful today.”

“Nothing to be ashamed of,” he said gently. “Fast acting, fast wearing off muscle relaxant. Don’t operate heavy machinery or drive the ship for an hour.” She laughed at that, then picked up a box of tissues and blew her nose, adding the used tissues to a collection of chocolate wrappers in the trash.

“Thanks a lot, Leonard. Not a lot of people are that thoughtful.” Without pausing, she continued. “If I’m going to call you Leonard, you should call me Nyota.”

“Nee-oh-ta.” He sounded it out. He knew the spelling, of course, but he’d known his mental pronunciation of N-eye-oh-ta couldn’t be right. Jim had mentioned it once, but that had been right after the Narada and he’d been too drunk to speak clearly.

“It was really nothing. My ex-wife used to have bad cramps, too.” Talking about Joss made him tense, but he forced himself to continue as if it was normal. “Her OB-GYN used to try to get her to go on the pill, but she wanted kids too badly. So I gave her a massage every month instead, and in return, we got a beautiful little girl.” He stopped, partly from the pain, partly from the shock of having told her so much about his personal life in so little time, and partly from having put two and two together. Nyota saved him the trouble of admitting that he’d been wondering by confirming his suspicions.

“That’s why I take it. Keeps the blood loss and the pain low enough for me not to collapse.” She looked wistful for a moment. Leonard had had enough experience with women to know that they rarely ask for what they really want. On those occasions when he couldn’t guess what they were thinking, there was only one option.

“Spit it out, Nyota. What do you want to say?”

She blushed again. “I was just thinking those massages must have been amazing.”

Oh.

“Would you like to try it?” Leonard could not believe he was being this forward with a woman, not after Joss. And certainly not with gorgeous, Jim-Kirk-shunning Nyota. She nodded, almost shyly. He reached a hand over to her other side and dug the middle and ring fingers of each hand into the space between her lowest rib and her hip, making circles with his thumbs on her back and shifting her so that her back was pressed against him. She sighed and relaxed so much she felt like dead weight against him.

“This is what you did for her? She must have been crazy to leave you.” It was his turn to blush.  
“To the second, yes, she was, and not just for that. To the first, well, I covered a few more bases with her.”

“Such as?” He blushed harder.

“She would sit straddling my leg, and I would alternate between the massage and holding her like this.” He hovered his hands over where he knew her uterus was. If he were to actually touch her, his arms would wrap around the place he had just been massaging, keeping her warm in all the important places. She caught his wrists, as though afraid he would go through with the touch, and scooted so she wasn’t resting against him anymore.

“Divine as I’m sure that would feel, let’s save it for when we know each other a little better.” He withdrew his hands at once and stood.

“I’m sorry. I’ve overstepped—” She stood, too.

“No, no. I’m sorry. I got a tiny bit uncomfortable there, but I was really asking for it, considering I expected you to say sex when you were talking about covering bases. I’m—” and she said something he didn’t understand. Whatever it was, it rhymed.

“What was that?” She blushed a little again.

“‘My mind is confused, and my body isn’t helping. We don’t know what we want, we only know that we want.’ It sounds better in Andorian.”

“Say it in Andorian again?” She does, and he has to agree. It actually sounds like a poem in Andorian, and he said so.

“It actually has rhyme and meter, yeah. I love writing poetry in Androrian, don’t ask me why.”

“You wrote that? It’s lovely.” She smiled. “I should go,” he said. “I’ll see you around, Nyota.”

“See you, Leonard. Das svidanya.” He knows that one; Chekov uses it. Goodbye. It’s a beautiful way to say goodbye, he thinks now.

Leonard found that he couldn’t think about anything other than Nyota Uhura. It was like his whole perspective has exploded. Later that day, well, that was natural, but he was still thinking that way a week later, and he hadn’t even seen her again.

“Bones? Are you okay?” He looked at Jim.

“Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

“I’ve been complaining for half an hour, and you haven’t told me to stop being a baby and take my physical like a man, or even just to shut up. Seriously distracted. You and Uhura both. Is there a connection?”

“Might be,” he grumped, focusing on, Nyota’s distracted? Is she thinking about him as much as he’s thinking about her?

“Are you together?” Leonard didn’t answer, but he looked into Jim’s eyes and knew Jim could see what was written there. A pause. “Go get her, Bones,” said Jim, and hopped off the biobed.

So that was how Leonard found himself at Nyota’s door. When she opened it, he said, “Would you like to have dinner with me?” Her face split into a blinding smile.

“I would love to. Tonight?”

That was fast. Oh, well, he wanted this, right?

 

“Tonight’s great. Can I pick you up at six?”

“Perfect.” She closed the door, leaving Leonard to figure out how to set up a decent dinner date on the Enterprise.

Bones spent most of the day getting more and more panicked about where to take Nyota. His quarters was far too personal. The lounge was much too public. Finally, he went to ask Jim. Rather than trek over half the ship looking for him, he got the computer to do it.

“Captain James T. Kirk is in Commander Spock’s quarters.”

Hmm. He wasn’t about to just walk into that. He commed him instead.

“Sickbay to Commander Spock’s quarters.”

“Spock here.”

“Jim there?”

“Yes,” came Jim’s voice. “Whatcha need, Bones?”

“What are you two up to? Got time to talk, or you doing something I don’t want to hear about?”

“We are currently engaged in the process of moving my personal items into the Captain’s quarters, Doctor.”

“He asked you to move in with him?” asked Bones, wondering if he imagined the hint of pride and happiness in Spock’s voice. Since they couldn’t see him, he grinned widely. Those two needed each other. “Well, congratulations.”

Spock began to say, “Doctor, it is logical—” but Jim cut him off.

“Yes, Bones, I asked him to move in with me,” and there was definite pride there.

“So who’s gonna get Spock’s—” And McCoy had the brainwave.

“The room will likely remain unoccupied,” replied Spock.

“Can I use it, then?” asked McCoy, and without waiting for an answer, headed for Spock’s quarters.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s not polite to hang up on people, Bones?” asked Jim. “What do you want the room for?”

“To take Nyota out,” replied McCoy absentmindedly, already inspecting the room.

“Your quarters will not suffice?” asked Spock, so McCoy explained his dilemma. “Most logical,” said Spock when he’d finished. “I have no objection to your furnishing the room for your date, Doctor.”

“I’ll help you finish up, then,” said McCoy. “Just the bed left, then?”

“Uh, Bones,” said Jim, “You do realize we were only planning to need one bed…?”

“Of course I know what you’re using the bed for,” snapped McCoy, trying not to imagine his commanding officers sharing a bed, “But are you really going to tell me it hadn’t occurred to you two geniuses that if you push the beds together, you’ll have twice as much space to do it on? Besides, it gives the wrong impression if it’s here when Nyota comes.”

“Again, most logical,” said Spock, looking suitably impressed, and moving to help McCoy fold up the bed. 

In a few hours, McCoy set up Spock’s table and chairs, complete with tablecloth and a full set of dinnerware. Unfortunately, he couldn’t provide wine, but he hoped the sparkling cider would be enough. The rest of the area he’d left open, bare, and free from carpet.

At five o’clock, McCoy headed back to his room to shower, shave, and dress, and at six o’clock sharp he was chiming Nyota’s door. She opened it. McCoy had to fight to stay in possession of his jaw. Nyota was wearing a red dress similar to her communications outfit, but elegant. And her hair… McCoy hadn’t know hair could do the upswept thing hers was doing. It was sleek and skinny and gorgeous. Her makeup was light, just slightly accenting her features, but her earrings were bright red and yellow feathers with beads.

McCoy proffered the small bouquet he’d picked up from Botany, and she took it, beaming.

“Why thank you, Leonard. Let me put these in some water.” And she vanished, leaving McCoy to catch his breath.

“You look stunning tonight,” he offered when she returned. She dipped a small curtsy.  
“Thank you. You look very dashing yourself.”

He led her down the corridor and stopped in front of his creation.

“Spock’s room?” she asked, confused.

“Nope. Once Spock’s room, now Private Dinner and Dance Room 1. Message Mr. Spock to book.” He opened the door and showed her in. It was Nyota’s turn to gasp.

McCoy gallantly gestured toward the table, already set, and she took a seat carefully.

“Computer, run program 101,” said McCoy. Jim had helped him by writing the program.

“What can I get you to drink?” asked the computer.

“Can I interest you in a sparkling cider?” asked McCoy. “It won’t do champagne, I’m afraid.” She smiled. 

“Sparkling cider sounds perfect.” He ordered it, then fetched it out of the replicator.  
“Can I get you an appetizer to start off with?” asked the computer, and Nyota looked at it in surprise.

“Is it going to sound like that the whole time? I mean it’s just like a restaurant on Earth, only with replicators.”

“If the programming’s right,” replied McCoy. “And don’t worry, you’ll get plenty of home-cooked meals if we keep this up.” 

He blushed at his own forwardness, but she just said, “I’d like that,” quietly. When they’d finished with their meals, he took her hand, and led her to a bare patch of floor.

“May I have this dance?”

“You may,” she replied, looking a little confused, “but what are we dancing to?”

“Computer, run program 102,” he said in reply, and music that was somehow soft and slow and peppy and inspiring all at the same time filled the room. He took her arm and they began to slow dance.

“I’m crying inside, don’t even know why, and I just wanna know: is this real?” sang the hauntingly beautiful voice.

“Essie,” whispered Nyota, naming the singer, and as he looked into her eyes he realized she was crying.

“Nyota—”

“No, no,” she reassured him. “This is one of Gaila’s favorite songs. Essie is her hero. I mean, was.” She said something in an alien language that sounded suspiciously like a swear word. “I still do that, after all this time.” She took a deep, slightly gasping breath and tried to smile. McCoy felt horrible. It hadn’t even occurred to him that Essie was Orion.

“What made you pick this song?” asked Nyota. “I mean you obviously didn’t know what it means to me, and you don’t seem the type to care about what music’s new and popular.”

“Essie’s Jojo’s favorite singer, which is how I knew it, and I just thought that particular song was beautiful,” he admitted. Somehow, they hadn’t stopped dancing. 

“It is,” agreed Nyota. “Leave it on, Leonard. It’ll be our song. Dedicated to the two people we wish were right here to see this relationship unfold.” That did stop him. He hadn’t realized she, too, was already thinking about this relationship as a serious one, one that could last. She misinterpreted, though, and beautiful Nyota Uhura, who regularly tells off James Tiberius freaking Kirk, bit her lip and stared at her shoes.

“I’m sorry, I know this is only our first date, and I know you probably don’t want to rush into anything, and I didn’t mean to sound like I’ve already got everything figured out—”

Leonard laid a hand on her cheek, and her sentence cut off abruptly. He leaned in slowly, giving her time to object, before kissing her gently. When he broke off, her eyes were shining, but this time, with happiness.

“I want that,” he told her seriously. “All that together forever, flowers and a song romantic—”  
She kissed him back.

(McCoy may have jumped the gun a bit by his standards on the first kiss, but he made up for it a bit on the proposal. They were together three years before he did it, and even Jim was bothering him about it, saying, “Will you propose already? I’ve had the ceremony memorized for six months.”)


End file.
